Left-hander Andrew Morgan got solid defensive support and pitched South Rowan to a 4-2 victory over Statesville in the opening round of the Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic on Friday.
Morgan, a sophomore, hurled a four-hitter and retired the final 15 Statesville batters as he improved to 2-1 for the season.
South, 6-10, earned a berth in Saturday’s semifinals, taking on East Rowan at 7 p.m. Saturday at Newman Park. East (10-6) beat Albemarle 10-0 last night.
Statesville, 7-12, dropped into the consolation bracket and will meet North Rowan (11-4) at 10 a.m. today.
“I was hitting my spots really well today,” said Morgan, who compared his performance with a 4-0 loss at West Rowan on March 29, when he allowed only one earned run.
“We just made a couple of extra plays today that made the game for us out in the infield — the infield and the outfield,” said Morgan.
The biggest defensive play came in the second inning, with South protecting a 3-2 lead. Statesville’s Justin Poirier doubled off the left field fence with two outs, and David McConnell tried to score from first on the hit. Left fielder Tim Cook fired the ball to shortstop Ronnie Shore, whose relay to catcher Justin Pinyan nailed the runner at home.
After that play, Morgan pitched no-hit ball, but was aided by defensive gems by third baseman David Ritchie and Shore.
“There were a couple of plays that could have gone either way that went our way today on some really nice plays by some of the other guys out there,” said Morgan.
The sophomore walked only one batter and struck out seven Greyhounds.
“My curveball was working, and they were chasing it. I was really hitting my fastball spots. I was jamming them, and they were hitting it off the end of the bat. Our infielders just made the plays,” said Morgan.
Statesville jumped on Morgan for a 2-0 lead in the first inning, when Tyler Combs singled in two runs.
“I love pitching with a lead. After they got those two runs and after we came in and got those three runs (bottom of the first), that really fired me up, because I knew it was going to be a good day,” said the pitcher.
“Andrew did a great job,” said first-year coach Linn Williams. “He’s pitched a couple of games like that for us before this season. One was a tough-luck loss to West. He’s been a little up and down. We threw him out there hoping he was going to be up today, and he was. He did a great job.”
Williams was glad to see his team get back on the losing track.
“First and foremost, we needed to win the opening-round game. We were on a four-game losing streak. We needed a win,” he said.
He was especially pleased with the errorless game played by the Raiders.
“After the Central (Cabarrus) game (22-1 loss on Monday), where we kind of kicked it all over the field, that’s the first thing I said to them when I walked out there: ‘What number have they got under the error column?’ It was zero. That was the difference in the game. They made some errors early in the game and gave us some runs. We didn’t allow that to happen,” he said.
Statesville committed three first-inning errors that led to three runs, two unearned. The only hit of the inning for South was by Cook.
The lead stayed at 3-2 until the sixth, when Dale Rice, running for pinch-hitter Craig Haas, scored on a single to left by pinch-hitter Derrick Morrison.
“Derrick did a good job coming off the bench getting a little insurance for us. He’s been a pretty solid bat off the bench for us all year,” said Williams.
Coach Brian Hightower of Statesville had to make an early pitching change when starter Zach Tolbert was hurt sliding into third for a stolen base in the first inning. Tolbert warmed up in the bottom of the first, but couldn’t pitch.
“When he slid into third, he jammed his wrist. We had to take him out and we went with (David) Adams (star shortstop and UNC Greensboro signee),” said Hightower.
Adams pitched a five-hitter.
“We very seldom throw Adams. He’s got arm problems. When he pitches, he guts it out,” said Hightower, who added that ace Tyler Combs could see action during the tournament.
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NOTES: Hightower, an Atlanta native, is a former Catawba College player and coach, so he was right at home at Newman Park. After graduating, he was an assistant for two years and is now in his fourth year at Statesville. ... Morgan is a second-generation Easter tourney player. His father, Jamie, was a catcher for former South coach Ernie Faw in the first holiday event back in 1984. South lost in the finals to Salisbury.
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